Logistics platform BlackBuck raises $7.8 mn from Trifecta Capital; aims for profits by Dec 2021

Zinka Logistics Solutions, the Bengaluru-based company that owns logistics solutions platform BlackBuck, has raised $7.85 million from venture lender Trifecta Capital. The capital infusion was a combination of debt and equity.

Out of the total raised, the company received $7 million through a non-convertible debenture issue, its latest regulatory filings show.

The latest infusion takes the total capital raised by the company so far to $230 million.

BlackBuck’s last funding round was in May 2019, when it raised $150 million in a growth round led by New York headquartered investment bank Goldman Sachs and venture capital firm Accel, along with asset management firm Wellington Management Company, B Capital, Sequoia Capital India and Light Street Capital.

The round, by TechCircle’s estimates, valued the company at $924 million, putting it within touching distance of the so-called unicorn club. Private companies valued at $1 billion or more are generally referred to as unicorns.

The company, which has reported losses of Rs 118 crore on revenues of Rs 889 crore in financial year 2017-18, expects to post profits from December 2021 onwards, according to a valuation report, dated February 11, 2019, which was attached as part of the capital raising documents from Delhi-based Trifecta.

Although it expects to report losses of Rs 342 crore and Rs 158 crore by December 2019 and December 2020 respectively, it has projected net profits at Rs 458 crore by December 2021. It also expects revenues at Rs 3,928 crore by December 2019, Rs 8,454 crore by December 2020 and Rs 18,273 crore by December 2021. The company is yet to detail its financial results for 2018-19.

Founded in 2015 by Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, graduates Rajesh Yabaji, Chanakya Hridaya and Ramasubramaniam B, BlackBuck is an online marketplace for truckers and shippers to facilitate intercity freight transport. It also provides solutions for long-haul trucking.

The company claims to operate across 1,000 locations with 350,000 trucks and 8,500 shippers attached on its platform. It counts Ultratech Cement, Asian Paints, Amul, Marico, Britannia Industries, Saint Gobain, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel and Unilever, among others as clients. Rivigo, Delhivery, Blowhorn, Xpressbees, Locus are among the competitors of BlackBuck.

In July, Gurugram-based Rivigo raised $65 million in a growth round led by returning investors Warburg Pincus and SAIF Partners. In the same month, Mara Labs-owned Locus raised $26 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global Management and Falcon Edge.   

Logistics firm Blowhorn hired former Tata Consultancy Services employee Santosh Desai and blockchain startup co-founder Gautam Seshadri to head its technology and strategy divisions.  

Earlier this year, Delhivery raised $385 million in a Series F round led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp, along with existing investors Carlyle Group and China-based Fosun International. The round saw Delhivery become India’s latest unicorn.